How to Get the Dead Man’s Tale Exotic Scout Rifle

Dead Man’s Tale is an Exotic primary weapon that was added during Season of the Chosen. This exotic scout rifle is hands down one of the best primary weapons in the game right now, even with its nerfs. If you’ve been sleeping on it or putting off getting it, you need to get your hands on this weapon ASAP. This guide is going to walk you through each and every step to teach you exactly how to earn Dead Man’s Tale.

Table of Contents

• How to Get Dead Man’s Tale
• Presage Mission Video Playtrough
• Presage Mission Walkthrough
  • 1st Jumping Puzzle / Maze
  • Trash Compactor
  • 1st Combat Encounter
  • The Hangar
  • 2nd Jumping Puzzle / Maze
  • Final Jumping Puzzle
  • Boss Fight

How to Get Dead Man’s Tale

The only way for Guardians to currently get Dead Man’s Tale is by completing the Presage Mission in the Tangled Shore. This mission was added during Season of the Chosen and it revolves around a Cabal ship named Glykon that disappeared after Calus ordered it to pursue the Darkness. Presage is a non-matchmade activity where a fireteam of up to 3 Guardians can load in to get their hands on Dead Man’s Tale.

You can run Presage once a week to get a random roll so you can farm the exact god roll you want on Dead Man’s Tale.

There are two difficulties, Normal and Master, though Master is enabled after you complete the mission on Normal difficulty first. This mission can be solo’d, as seen in the video below, so don’t feel like you have to have a fireteam to attempt this. Mind you, a fireteam will turn Presage into a glorified strike and it’ll be more forgiving if you aren’t familiar with the activity.

Regardless, let’s get right to it!

Complete the Presage Mission

Before you start Presage, there are a few jumping puzzles that you’ll need to navigate. Be sure to equip a high-ish mobility armor set so you can make it through these areas without too much trouble. You should be alright with anything above ~65 mobility, but I like to aim for 80+ just to be safe. Also, using a sword can be a lifesaver if you’re about to miss a jump.

And a quick note, I won’t be covering the Presage scannables or Smuggling Compartments locations in this guide. You can check out our other articles to learn more about where they are.

Presage Mission Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Once you load into the Presage mission, turn to your left and look for the walkway against the far wall.

Follow the path along the wall, hang a right at the end of it, and then hang another right so you’re looking at scaffolding over empty space. Jump up to the first platform and look to the bottom of the wall on your right.

First Jumping Puzzle & Maze

Go to that small ledge, jump to the next platform in front of you, and then turn around and look up.

Hop from platform to platform and look for the hanging bit of scaffolding. This is a bit of a tricky jump since you’ll need to go over the support arm in front to land on the platform itself. Once you do that, you’ve got a long jump to the platform that leads into the Glykon.

From here, you’ll need to navigate the corridors to get to the next stage. The path through is left, left, right, straight, right, left, right, and a final right before dropping down into a machine room. To get out of this room, look for the pipes on the left side of the wall. There’s a breakable vent behind them.

Go through that vent and hang a left. Go straight ahead, duck under the pipe, turn around, and jump up to the platform above.

Hop over the pipe, go to the far wall, and hang a left.

We’re back to some more corridors to get through. Turn left, then right, go straight to the far wall, and then turn right and look for a breakable vent in the floor.

Break that, hop down, hop down, and go through the open doorway. Hang a left after the big column in the center of this room and go through the double doors in front of you.

The pathway here is blocked by a translucent Darkness haze that will damage you if you touch it. You need to destroy the spores on the left side of the room.

If you did it correctly, you’ll have a buffed called Eregore Link that lasts about 15 seconds. This will let you move through the Darkness haze without taking any damage. Be sure to stay close to the spore when you destroy it or you won’t get the buff.

Get the buff, go through the Darkness haze, and make your way to the back left part of the next room. Jump from the platform made out of the organic stuff and hop up to the ledge where there’s another breakable vent cover.

Go through the vent, hang a left, go straight to the far wall, turn right, go straight to the next far wall, turn right, and turn right again. Then jump up into the next room through the opening in the ceiling.

After you go through the doorway, there’s another set of corridors that you’ll need to navigate. The path through there is straight, left, right, left, right, and then down through an opening in the floor.

Once you’ve landed, put the electrified barrier on the right side of your screen, and then turn around.

Roughly 6 Elite Screeb spawn down this corridor. Once you’ve defeated them, go straight to the far wall and look to your left.

There’s a switch on tucked away behind the tanks. Flip that switch and go back out to where you landed. That switch will have opened the locked door with spores behind it. Get the buff and jump across the empty space to the other side of the room.

Once across, go straight around the pillar in front of you and through the Darkness haze. Drop down in the next room and defeat the Elite Screeb that spawn. There will be ~3 on that sublevel with you and then two more on the level above.

Go straight through the open doorway into the room with the electrified barriers on both sides and jump onto the hanging platform in the middle of the space.

This will introduce you to the fuse mechanic. Throughout the Glykon, there will be places where you can only move forward by destroying a fuse to open a previously locked door. This is no different. Destroy the fuse and drop down the now opened hole in the floor.

The next space will have another ~6 Elite Screeb that spawn once you go in.

Once they’ve been defeated, go straight, past the curved pipe, and jump up to the platform above you on your right.

Flip the switch that’s tucked away in the back left side of the platform. This opens a door on the far side of the room. From the switch, turn around and go to the other raised platform across the room.

Go through the door and keep going straight across the open space to the opposite wall. Flip the switch that’s there and make your way back to the room with the two raised platforms.

Drop down off of the first platform, turn around, and find the fuse tucked in an alcove on the left wall. Destroy this fuse and go back to the last room you were in.

At the bottom of the open space, there’s a door in the wall on the bottom right just above the grinders. There’s also a rotating platform that will flatten out when you get into close proximity with it. Hop down onto it, go into the door, and down the chute into the trash compactor.

Trash Compactor

On the far side of the room is a switch. Once you flip it, the walls will start closing in and you need to find and destroy 3x fuses in the floor before you get smooshed. The catch is that they’re hidden by vent covers and you’ll have Elite Screebs spawning the whole time.

If you defuse the situation in time, the walls will stop before killing you. You’ll need to find the vent with the 4 red lights around it to move onto the next area. Find it, destroy the vent cover, and hop down into the subflooring.

Turn around, hop onto the raised floor in front of you, turn right, follow that corridor, turn right, crouch down, and then drop down through the hole in the floor. The next space is the first major combat encounter of the Presage mission.

1st Combat Encounter

This encounter is not too terribly difficult, but it’s definitely a hectic fight since you’re being pressured on multiple fronts. Before we get into it, here’s a quick enemy breakdown:

• 2x Elite Corrupted Raiders (long-range snipers)
• 2x Elite Corrupted Chieftains (Scorn Captains) and a 3rd spawns in after you defeat one of them
• A bajillion Corrupted Ravagers (aggressive melee only units)

The major threats here are the Chieftains and Raiders. The Raiders are scarily accurate snipers that aren’t like the ones you see in patrol or Strikes. They land their shots and they can do a lot of damage if you aren’t careful. (My health bar is from taking two quick shots in succession while trying to get a good screenshot. These guys don’t play…)

If you’re using a sniper rifle, take these guys down ASAP.

The Chieftains have void shields and can drop the Void shielding totem making anything within range immune from taking damage as well as the arc gravity well totem that tethers you if you’re within range of it. They should also be prioritized because of how troublesome they can be.

The Raiders, on the other hand, can be easily handled with proper positioning and well-placed duration grenades (Pulse, Vortex, etc.). If they start to swarm you, aim for their flaming mace as that does explosive AoE damage and will help clear them out.

Once you’ve dealt with the enemies here, go through the big door on the far wall from where you entered. Follow the corridor down and around through the pitch-black room to the Hangar, which is our 2nd combat encounter and 1st set of minibosses.

The Hangar

This is another multi-front combat encounter that can be quite hectic without proper positioning and add control. Quick enemy breakdown:

• 2x Abominations
• 4x Corrupted Chieftains (3x on the initial pull, the 4th spawns on the catwalk after killing the first Abomination)
• 6x Lurkers (3x spawn under the catwalk on each side with their own Chieftain)
• ?? Raiders
• ?? Screebs

The Raiders and Screebs spawn throughout the fight when you hit different mini-boss damage thresholds. Their main purpose is to flush you out of your position and into the open so other units can target you.

The best place for you to be during this encounter is on top of the catwalk. The reason for this is that the Abominations do a lot of damage and are very accurate with their lightning blasts. Being on the catwalk keeps you out of their line of sight (LOS) and behind cover so you can focus on doing damage.

To fight from this position, you’ll need to defeat the Chieftain and the Raiders that are currently there. Watch out for the 2x Chieftains under the catwalk since you’ll be within range of them as soon as they spawn in. Once you defeat the enemies on top of the catwalk, the Abominations will spawn in and the main fight has begun.

Multiple groups of Ravagers and Screebs will spawn in alongside the Abominations. If you’re up on the catwalk, they’ll jump up and land in one of two places. Plopping a grenade here before they land will handle most, if not all, of them.

After those waves are down, focus on defeating one of the abominations by peaking in and out from behind cover. I’m a big fan of Witherhoard, Anarchy, and rocket launchers with Lasting Impression here. You’re able to deal damage while being completely out of harm’s way.

After you defeat the first Abomination, the second round of Ravager & Screeb waves will start spawning in. Handle them the same way as before and move on to the second Abomination. Once it’s down, you can hop down and handle the Chieftain packs one side at a time.

Now that all of the enemies have been defeated, you can move onto the next phase of Presage.

Second Jumping Puzzle / Maze

Look in the far left corner of the room with the loading bay doors that open to outerspace. There’s a platform outside the ship that has blinking red lights on it. Go out there.

Jump across the empty space to the next platform and hang a right into the next hangar.

The next exit is on the far left side of the room. Jump from the Cabal drop ship to the hanging platform then on top of the tank in the corner of the room and up to the platform on the wall.

Go through the doorway and follow the corridor until you find the hole in the floor. Drop down into the Glykon’s Laboratory. Enter the room and look on the left side of the room for a switch. Flipping it will open the door next to it and give you access to a spore sack.

Break the spore sack to get the buff. Go through the door on the right side of the room and through the Darkness haze on the other side of it. In the next room, hang a left and go up the ramp.

Watch out for the ~4x Screeb that spawn in and jump down to the ramp.

Flip the switch at the top of the ramp to open a door to a fuse on the other side of the room. Destroy the fuse to deactivate the electrified barrier above you. Move quickly since the field will reactivate after a few seconds.

Flip the switch on the right side of the room, turn around, and hang a left in the next room in front of you. Flip the switch at the end of that corridor to open the door next to the switch and the one in the previous room to get access to the spore sack.

Get the buff, go up the ramp, and go down the corridor to the left to pass through the Darkness haze. Hang a right at the next junction and go through the door. There’s a small combat encounter in the next room with 2x Chieftains, 4x Lurkers, a handful of Screeb, and a Cabal Scorpion.

Once they’re defeated, go flip the switch on the big tank on the far side of the room.

This will open up a door under the platform you’re currently standing on. Inside of that alcove is a Cabal Scorpion. Destroy it and look inside to the right for the fuse.

Destroy the fuse and go to the right side of the room to find the spore sack.

Get the buff and make your way to the back left side of the room where the Darkness Haze is on the floor. Drop on down and you’ll be in a ventilation system lit by red light. Look for the tanks and destroy the vent cover to its right as well as the vents directly across from those you just destroyed.

Go through the second vent and destroy the next two sets of vent covers. 2x Screeb will spawn in here so be ready for them. Once they’re down, go back to where you entered the vent system and go back through the first vent. Back there will be a spore sack.

Get the buff and run through the second vent and hang a left at that first intersection. Destroy that vent cover and follow the corridor around until you get to the switch. Flip it and go through the door.

You’ll find yourself back in the Laboratory from earlier. Go back to the spore sack, get the buff, go through the door directly across from the spore, hang a right through the Darkness haze, and then a left through the big doorway.

The next room has ~5x Screeb and 2x Abominations waiting for you. Handle them and then make your way to the back left part of the room. Flip the switch that’s there then look for the panel to the right of it that opened up.

Destroy the fuse inside and then go back to where you entered the room. Find the newly accessible spore sack, get the buff, and make your way to the back right side of the room near the fuse you just destroyed.

Go through the Darkness Haze into the next stage which is a mini-jumping puzzle.

Final Jumping Puzzle

There are a handful of platforms and 3x Raiders between you and the boss fight. Ignore the switch on the final platform. It’s a ruse that’ll open a door with a scorpion behind it. Go through the puzzle and defeat the Raiders first so you don’t have the double pressure of making it through the puzzle in time and being attacked at the same time.

Once they’re down, go back to that opening platform and get the buff from the spore sack there. Go through the puzzle and the Darkness Haze at the end.

Now you’re at the staging area before the final fight. Check your subclass and loadout to make sure you’re ready to fight the boss. If you’re good to go, use a rally banner to top off your ammo and ability energy.

Get the buff from the spore, go through the Darkness haze, and go down the opening in the floor to fight the Locus of Communion.

Locus of Communion Boss Fight

The Presage boss is basically a reskin of Reksis Vahn whom you might remember as one of the Scorn Barons in the Forsaken story campaign. If you didn’t play Forsaken, think of a giant Scorn Ravager and you won’t be too far off the mark.

There are 3 phases to this boss fight and they’re pretty much the same for all intents and purposes, so the bulk of the strategy will be discussed in the Phase One section below. I’ll only cover how Phase 2 & 3 differ from Phase 1 in their respective sections.

Once you enter the room, the Locus will spawn in and start to rush you. You’ll need to deal about 10% of his health in damage to get him to transition into an immunity state and teleport into the subfloor section below you. This area will be off-limits for the time being since it’s literally on fire and you’ll die from solar damage if you go down there.

After it teleports, you’ll enter Phase One of the fight.

Phase One

This phase begins with 3 sets of enemies spawning in with 2 sets having a solar-shielded Chieftain and 2x Stalkers. The third spawn is just a single solar-shielded Chieftain and a handful of Screeb. Prioritize dropping the Chieftains since they’ll drop the solar-AoE totems which can be problematic.

Defeating these spawns will cause two more packs to spawn, one by each console on either side of the room, that have 2x Stalkers a piece. Make quick work of these guys and look for the consoles near their spawns. Activate both consoles and go towards the central room on the left from where you entered.

This room is on fire and there’s Stalker waiting for you inside. Get close enough to the door so that it opens so you can get the angle on said stalker and defeat them.

There’s another console on the central pillar facing the glass that opens up into the main room. Activate it and the subfloor area will no longer be on fire.

You can drop down via one of the 3 openings. There’s 1 behind each of the consoles in the main room and another on the right side of the room towards the back of the raised platform.

Once you’re down here, you can DPS the Locus of Communion, but beware. It moves faster than you’d think and it has a long-range attack with its fire flail. Also, keep an eye out for the Stalkers, Ravagers, and Chieftains that spawn as you damage it.

The safest way to damage the boss is to drop down from the main area, hit it with something like Witherhoard/Anarchy/RL with Lasting Impressions, and then hop back up to the main area. Your mileage may vary, but that’s what’s worked well for me so far.

Once the Locus is down to 2/3 health, you’ll move into Phase Two. Which again, is just like Phase One.

Phase Two

The main difference in Phase Two is that there are more mobs that spawn in the subfloor space and you’ll have Stalkers spawn in the main area while you’re damaging the boss.

These additions aren’t too terribly difficult. They just force you to be more aware of your surroundings.

Phase Three

Phase Three is just like Phase Two, but with one notable distinction. As you damage the boss, Chieftains and Screeb will spawn up in the main space. This can be quite dangerous if you don’t take care of them when you take cover from damaging the boss. Be prepared to be surprised by them since they’ll spawn when you least expect it.

Keep damaging the boss while rotating between the subfloor and main area and you’ll defeat him in short order.

Once you’ve beaten the Locus of Communion, go to the back left side of the room where a corridor has opened up. Follow this path and after two drops, you’ll be in the final room where you can finish the mission by claiming your Dead Man’s Tale.